according to that nature, one, or the other, is our father. We have no other choice. Surely it behoves us to know whose children we are.

SECTION XXXVI.

Chap. viii. ver. 39-49.

CHRIST'S AUTHORITY ASSERTED.

39. They answered and said unto him, Abraham is our father. Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham's children, ye would do the works of Abraham.

So he says to us; what is your baptisin, and Christian profession, without the works proper to them?

the

40. But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you truth, which I have heard of God: this did not Abraham. 41. Ye do the deeds of your father. Then said they unto him, We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God,

Saying this vehemently, is not sufficient. Let us think how much is implied in being a child of God.

42. Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth, and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me.

Jesus tells us he came from the Father, to teach us to know and love him as a Father.

43. Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word.

Hearing, is hearing in an honest and good heart; and in the want of this, they could not, none can, hear and understand.

your

44. Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

This is a horrid relation! If we have not already broken ourselves off from Satan, surely we shall do it as soon as possible.

45. And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not.

The very reason why the gospel is so little believed is, because it is the truth. It does not suit our worldly wills, and depraved natures; which for the most part, is what we mean by our reason.

46. Which of you convinceth me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do ye not believe me?

He had not one blemish in his life, to lessen the force of truth from his mouth. None other could ever make this

challenge.

47. He that is of God, heareth God's words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God.

You do not hear God's word with effect. The true disciple not only hears, but approves, and believes. Others "hear, and hear not." Having nothing of God in them, his words can take no hold of them; and their not receiving them is full proof that they have nothing of God in them.

48. Then answered the Jews, and said unto him, Say we not well that thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil?

Remember this when you are reproached for the truth's

sake.

49. Jesus answered, I have not a devil; but I honour my Father, and ye do dishonour me.

This was a full answer to their charge, that he had a devil. How could he be possessed with Satan, who had nothing at heart but the glory of God?

SECTION XXXVII.

Chap. viii. ver. 50-59.

JESUS JUSTIFIES HIMSELF.

50. And I seek not mine own glory: there is one that seeketh and judgeth.

Who will judge you, and vindicate me, to your eternal confusion, if you do not believe.

51. Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death.

Christ here teaches that there is no way to escape death. Though believers die, like all other men, it is not under a sentence of death; and the life which is begun in them, if they keep it to the end, does not die with their bodies.

52. Then said the Jews unto him, Now we know that thou hast a devil. Abraham is dead, and the prophets; and thou sayest, If a man keep my saying, he shall never taste of death.

53. Art thou greater than our father Abraham, which is dead? and the prophets are dead: whom makest thou thyself?

54. Jesus answered, If I honour myself, my honour is nothing: it is my Father that honoureth me; of whom ye say, that he is your God.

55. Yet ye have not known him; but I know him: and if I should say, I know him not, I should be a liar like unto you: but I know him, and keep his saying.

56. Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad.

Abraham had Christ revealed to him, and he made him all his hope. As great a saint as he was, his joy was in Christ, and the righteousness of faith.

57. Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham ?

They spake of the age of Jesus, at the highest calculation, not knowing how old he was.

58. Jesus saith unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.

That is, I had a being, and that from eternity.

59. Then took they up stones to cast at him; but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.

This he probably did by a divine power. He held their eyes so that they saw him no longer. As God did at the prayer of Elisha, 2 Kings, vi. 17-19.

SECTION XXXVIII.

Chap. ix. ver. 1—7.

THE MAN BORN BLIND RESTORED TO SIGHT.

1. And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth.

2. And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?

They inquired if he had sinned in some other body. It seems that they had entertained the notion of the transmigration of souls; or, perhaps, they thought his blindness was a punishment for some sin foreseen. What they meant is not the matter of the chiefest concern to us.

3. Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents; but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.

His blindness was not inflicted on him for any particular sin, or sinfulness, of himself, or his parents.

His restoration to sight was for the glory of God, and to promote our belief in Christ. This man's blindness brought him to the knowledge of Christ, and proved the greatest of all blessings to him. Afflictions are the means of saving more souls, perhaps, than anything else; and it

is his own fault if God does not produce good out of all the evil that befals us.

4. I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day : the night cometh, when no man can work.

Here Christ speaks like other men, and chiefly to give a lesson of instruction to all. We have a work upon our hands, which must of all necessity be done, and we have not a moment's time to spare.

"The night cometh, when no man can work." If that night, which gives us up to judgment, should be near at hand, are we ready? O! let us think, this night, and every night we lie down in our beds, what is our great business in the world, and what condition we are in to appear before God.

5. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.

Christ is not less so, now that he is in heaven. He is the light of the world at all times. He is now in the world to shine upon us, and now is our time for walking in his light, and for reaping the full benefit of it.

6. When he had thus spoken, he spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay,

The healing virtue was not in the clay, (for no means could be more unlikely,) but in the power of him who formed man of the dust of the ground; and we make the right improvement of the miracle, when we trust in the same power for our spiritual sight, and new creation.

7. And said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, (which is by interpretation, Sent.) He went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing.

The interpretation affords a lesson to us. The word sent, naturally turns our thoughts to Christ, who was sent of God for our recovery. All depends on knowing our need of him. "He was washed, and came seeing." There was no more virtue in the pool than in the clay, to restore his